Durin had been observing the battle, ready to join immediately if things went wrong, but he hadn't seen the Gnoll Leader appear from beginning to end.
Suddenly!
Durin felt all the hairs on his body stand on end. He spun around abruptly and raised the enchanted shield in his hand.
Clang!
A metal weapon struck the surface of the shield. Even with the enchanted shield as a buffer, the impact numbed Durin's left forearm. This monster was incredibly stronger than a human! Durin involuntarily stumbled back several steps before regaining his balance.
Using the torches tied to the carriages, Durin finally saw the humanoid creature that had suddenly given him a sense of danger.
"Ho ho ho~"
The Gnoll, whose sneak attack had not succeeded, slowly emerged from the darkness. It was very tall, with three or four human skulls hanging from its waist, a battle-axe in one hand, and a low "gurgling" growl coming from its mouth.
Durin's pupils suddenly constricted. He tightened his grip on his scimitar.
Because behind this Gnoll were four other Gnolls of different sizes. They looked like a group of triumphant hunters proudly gazing at their prey.
Damn it!
They even knew to split their forces, letting the main group draw attention while a small detachment launched a surprise attack from behind.
Durin cautiously observed the Gnoll Leader at the forefront; he knew that as soon as he eliminated him, the entire Gnoll tribe would lose their backbone and scatter.
Ordinary Gnolls stood seven and a half feet tall, but this Gnoll Leader looked even larger, a full eight and a half feet.
He was burly, with mottled scars covering his gray fur, a height of 2.6 meters, and a weight of at least 300 pounds.
The visual impact was simply too strong; Durin almost had to look up at the Gnoll Leader.
The Gnoll's head was missing one rounded ear, and he had yellow teeth and blood-red eyes; a Fishy smell (fishy-smelling) breath emanated as he breathed through his open mouth, and viscous drool slowly dripped down his uneven tusks.
He appeared disheveled but exuded a fierce and wild aura.
He slowly raised his right claw and said grimly, "Your head would make a fine chamber pot for me."
However, to Durin's ears, the Gnoll's language was nothing but meaningless barking.
At this moment, Durin couldn't even cast necromancy spells. He couldn't possibly cast such a despised, even excommunicable, necromantic spell in broad daylight, so he had to abandon this trump card.
However, his Fire Tongue spell and Mage Armor were still usable.
Watching the Gnoll's steps quicken, his fur bristled, and he kicked off with his hind legs, counter-attacking and raising the battle-axe in his hand to cleave towards Durin's face, his attack swift and fierce.
Durin, anticipating the move, agilely leaped aside, then quickly outlined the rune model for Mage Armor with his left hand.
Clang!
The battle-axe, larger than a human head, cleaved down, emitting a whistling sound as it cut through the air.
Durin's heart jumped; he immediately focused his mind, felt the arcane energy surrounding him, and quickly cast a Mage Armor spell on himself.
After the spell was fully cast, all the arcane energy seemed to gather in an instant, covering Durin's entire body, ensuring not a single inch of skin was exposed to the air.
A faint, flowing energy wove itself into the shape of armor, serving as Durin's second means of protection.
Then, Durin's left hand once again unleashed Fire Tongue.
The blazing flames transformed into a five to six-meter-long tongue-like projectile that rushed towards the Gnoll Leader, filling the air with scorching heat.
Facing the fiery assault, the Gnoll Leader, unable to dodge in time, let out a painful howl as all his fur ignited, his entire body resembling a walking inferno.
In extreme panic, the Gnoll Leader's eyes became bloodshot, and his body seemed to inflate by two sizes, entering a bloodthirsty state.
Durin charged forward without hesitation, swinging the enchanted scimitar in his hand; the sharp blade immediately tore through his muscle, creating a gruesome long wound from which blood continuously seeped.
But the Gnoll's body was exceptionally tough; even after being severely burned by Fire Tongue and having his flesh cut to the bone by the enchanted scimitar, he was still instinctively fighting back desperately.
The Gnoll Leader roared, and the next moment, he raised his scorched, charcoal-like arm and swung his axe towards Durin's neck.
However, when the battle-axe touched the Mage Armor, it was unable to break through the defense.
It was like cutting into dried cowhide, incredibly tough, essentially reaching a point where even a blunt, barbed weapon would struggle to penetrate.
Unfortunately, his counterattack was ineffective; he simply dropped the battle-axe and flailed wildly with his claws, gnawing and biting haphazardly with his mouth.
However, Durin agilely dodged all of them, and then, seizing the opportunity, he swung his scimitar again, powerfully cleaving into the opponent's abdomen. Although this strike did not cut him in half, it did open a bloody gash in his abdomen.
The Gnoll Leader grunted and fell to the ground. Durin followed up with a kick to his groin, sending him stumbling into a tree. He mumbled a few words, seemingly disoriented, and tried to get up several times but slipped on the mud.
He could only wail as he watched Durin use the enchanted scimitar to cut off his head.
[One-Handed Weapon +3, Current Proficiency: 153/175]
[Running +2, Current Proficiency: 102/150]
When Durin looked up, the four Gnolls who had gone around to ambush them had already tucked their tails and fled in a frenzy.
And in the dense forest, the screams of the wolves echoed.
In an instant, the entire battlefield was left with only scattered Gnoll and gray wolf corpses lying on the ground, and those severely wounded comrades who couldn't move.
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